Victoria Hand
Victoria Hand is a supporting character in Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.. Based on the Marvel Comics character of the same name, she is a high-ranking member of the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division with a clearance of Level 8. She is featured over the course of Season 1, helping Phil Coulson and his team hunt down the criminal mastermind known as the Clairvoyant. She is portrayed by Saffron Burrows. Personality Victoria Hand led with a no-nonsense attitude and a rigid, uncompromising respect for rules and protocol. She disliked nicknames because she felt that it was condescending. She was a minimalist in terms of personnel; she desired as few as possible to do as much as possible on a mission. Hand felt that fellow agents were disposable as long as the mission was completed. Hand's high regard for rule following served her well; unfortunately for her, the one time she chose to break protocol and follow her personal desire, the death of the Clairvoyant, Grant Ward was able to use that as an opening to kill her. History The Hub Hand oversaw an operation from the Hub to destroy an enemy weapon called the Overkill Device and neutralize the South Ossetian rebels that built it. To this end, she assigned agents Grant Ward and Leo Fitz with the task of neutralizing the weapon before launching the attack. What she did not inform the team of however was that they would not have an extraction plan once the mission was complete, much like Clint Barton and Natasha Romanoff. Ward and Fitz's team leader, Phil Coulson, soon discovered that his team would not have an extraction plan and confronted Hand. When it became clear that Hand had no intention of arranging a rescue for Ward and Fitz, Coulson took matters into his own hands and, together with Melinda May, he went to their rescue. Meanwhile, Ward and Fitz were successful in their mission, and the attack commenced once Coulson had extracted them. Hand spoke to Jasper Sitwell and explained that she was confident that Coulson would secure his team's safe return. The Magical Place Hand coordinated an effort to find abducted Agent Phil Coulson and to take down the Centipede Project. She led a S.H.I.E.L.D. team to take custody of the notorious criminal Vanchat, who had had dealings with Centipede in the past, during a transaction to sell Chitauri metal to a buyer named Emily Deville. Leading many teams across the globe from the Bus, Agent Hand got rid of the consultant Skye, apparently with the approval of Agent Melinda May, while one of her best men was trying to interrogate Vanchat. When Agent Ward successfully obtained information about Vanchat's transactions, Hand led many strike teams running raids on every known buyer of Chitauri metals around the globe, some of them being Centipede safe houses, but not before questioning Agent Ward's attitude after Skye's disappearance from the plane and Ward's very own interrogation methods. She also noted that both Director Nick Fury and Commander Maria Hill wanted constant updates on the situation of the rescue mission. When the helicopter used in Coulson's kidnapping appeared in a laboratory near the Mojave Desert, Hand personally led a strike team to investigate the activities at the lab. Agent Coulson was rescued by his own team; Hand informed Coulson that Director Fury was very relieved after hearing of Coulson's successful rescue mission and updated him on the success of the take down of multiple Centipede operations. She then returned to S.H.I.E.L.D. Headquarters, commenting that the Bus was not her style. End of the Beginning Agent Hand was called to the Bus by Coulson from a S.H.I.E.L.D. Aircraft Carrier along with Agents Jasper Sitwell and Felix Blake. After the Bus' takeoff she was briefed on the mission, by Coulson, John Garrett, and Antoine Triplett. She expressed her doubts about the true abilities of the Clairvoyant to no avail. She left the plane after the briefing to return to the Hub to run back-end support for the mission. When Agent Blake was critically injured by Deathlok during the mission, and the team returned to the Hub, Hand again expressed her disapproval to Coulson, telling him that their plan was flawed right from the start. When Garrett attempted to defend the plan's effectiveness she shot him down and ordered him not to call her "Vic" as it was condescending. Coulson told her that the plan had given them a suspect in Thomas Nash. She ordered Agents Jemma Simmons and Antoine Triplett to work within the Hub as consultants on Deathlok's capabilities. Due to a tracking round that Blake had shot at Deathlok during his attack, S.H.I.E.L.D. was able to track Deathlok to an abandoned race track in Pensacola, Florida. Hand watched as Coulson, Garrett and their teams battled with Deathlok until they located the man they believed to be the Clairvoyant. Hand watched closely during Coulson's confrontation with Thomas Nash, who was completely paralysed and spoke through a computer. When Nash seemingly began taunting the team and threatening to murder Skye, Ward shot him through the heart, killing him instantly. Hand simply said that she doubted the Clairvoyant saw that coming. Turn, Turn, Turn Later, Hand rerouted the Bus to the Hub and informed her agents that once the Bus landed she wanted everyone except Coulson killed. Hand also ordered two UAVs to take out Garrett's plane. This order ultimately failed, however, after Coulson aided Garrett on the Bus by taking out the UAVs. Hand was under the impression that Garrett, Coulson and his team were members of HYDRA. Hand made a personal stand-off with Simmons and Triplett in the Hub and posed as a HYDRA agent herself; she ordered them to pledge full loyalty to HYDRA or face a fate similar to Director Fury, whom was believed to have been killed (see Captain America: The Winter Soldier). The pair passed Hand's "test" however, when Triplett swore to take Agent Chaimson with them if Hand's men opened fire. Hand argued that Coulson was indeed a member of HYDRA, justifying her suspicions with the belief that Coulson hid vital information from S.H.I.E.L.D. and disobeyed multiple direct orders. When the “fugitives” had successfully infiltrated the Hub, Coulson, Garrett, Melinda May and Leo Fitz were soon surrounded by Hand’s men. Unbeknownst to Hand, two of the guards were HYDRA agents who then took out their former colleagues with the order of Garrett: a HYDRA agent and the Clairvoyant. This revelation was soon known by Hand, thanks to a bug, who then personally led a second team to arrest Garrett. Hand now believed that Coulson and his team were not agents of HYDRA. Hand contacted Isabelle Hartley and informed her that the threat in the Hub was neutralized. With the Clairvoyant and HYDRA threat on the Hub neutralized, Hand confirmed to Coulson that Captain America had successfully ended the Helicarrier threat at the Triskelion. Hand also noted that the pair may be the only Level 8 agents who are not loyal to HYDRA or dead. Upon giving Coulson a secure communication device to ensure the pair could keep in contact, Hand left the Hub to transport Garrett to the Fridge, along with Ward, who requested to join them to lock away his former Supervising Officer. Death In the epilogue scene of "Turn, Turn, Turn", Hand and Ward are on a plane transporting Garrett to the Fridge. Though the Fridge would ensure that Garrett would never see the light of day again, Hand felt that Garrett deserved to die for his betrayal. She turned to Ward and offered him the opportunity to kill his former S.O.. However, Ward was also a HYDRA mole and he shot the guards on either side of Garrett, then turned to Hand and shot her in the chest. He then shot Hand twice in the back while she was down on the deck. Category:TV Characters Category:TV Deaths Category:Important Characters Category:Important Deaths Category:Supporting Characters Category:Humans Category:Marvel Characters Category:Marvel Cinematic Universe Category:Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Category:Betrayal Category:Murder Victims Category:Death by Shooting Category:Unexpected Deaths